Visions
Siegfried found himself on a deserted battlefield field in Karrnath. A man faced away from him. As Siegfried approached, he could feel heat emanating from the man and could smell smoke in the air. He grabbed the man’s shoulder and the person turned around, revealing the fence that Hohenheim had tried to get his items from. The figure burst into flames before Siegfried—the stench of burning flesh filling his nostrils. The man collapsed to the ground and crawled toward Siegfried, repeating the phrase “You did nothing.” As Siegfried watched, the face burned away, being replaced with a woman’s face, decayed and turning to ash beneath the flames. It was the face of his wife, dead in Siegfried’s past, alive in their current time. She, too, echoed “You did nothing.” Siegfried watched his wife burn to nothing before waking up in the water. Rohagar sat in front of a campfire back in her village in the Shadow Marches. Her grandfather sat on a log, staring at the fire, absentmindedly poking at the wood. No one seemed to notice Rohagar, but when she shook her grandfather to get his attention, he began whispering something in a hoarse voice: “Worms…” The ground began to rumble and countless black worms wriggled their way up through the dirt, latching on to Rohagar’s family and tribe, biting them and sliding under their skin. She watched as the worms multiplied, pouring out from every orifice. Her father rapidly decayed in front of her, becoming another worm-infested undead. A terrible crack boomed in the sky and a voice spoke. It sounded like thousands of worms writhing together to create a deep and raspy voice that said “THE AGE OF WORMS HAS BEGUN”. As a sense of dread filled Rohagar, she awoke in the sea. Hohenheim was at the House Cannith enclave in Metrol, on the Day of Mourning, watching the Creation Forge in action. He remembered overhearing two magewrights discussing the fact that Merrix d’Cannith himself was at Metrol that day. He had arrived suddenly, but rumor had it that he was planning some new experiment that day. No one knew what it was, but they were all excited to see what he would do. Hohenheim also remembered being warned that Merrix was looking for him… and not for anything good. He then found himself floating in the water. Josephine stood in a vast, white expanse that was filled with a bright light. Before her was a great winged angel. Quickly, she knelt out of respect. It was difficult for her to look at the angel—her eyes hurt when she glanced at it and her head began to pound. The angel began to speak, and Josephine’s ears started to bleed. Another woman joined them and she knelt next to Josephine. She spoke on the angel’s behalf, indicating that mortals are not capable of fully perceiving the angel before her. Doing so would likely kill Josephine. The angel wished to tell Josephine that she is on the right path and that there is a broken sword that needs to be reforged. It may yet be important in the fight against evil. The angel came up to Josephine and placed two fingers on her head. She came to in the water. Ixen floated in… nothing. It was not light, nor dark. There were no shapes, nor abstractions. There was nothing. The Woman in White appeared in front of him, her face still obscured. She apologized to Ixen for having to meet like this; she would have preferred another way, but she had been struggling to contact him until now. The Woman explained that she is a vestige, lost in the Void, like the others he contacts, only she is there by choice. She turned herself into a vestige to escape a terrible evil. She seeks her rightful vessel and asked for Ixen’s help. He agreed. There was little else she would tell him—The Woman was still uncertain that she could trust him, but granted him knowledge of her seal. Ixen woke up face down in the water. Gin lay on his back in the water, the growth on his neck still throbbing. He glanced around and saw the others… and a flash of white in the water. He turned, but saw nothing. As he started to slowly swim to the rest of the party, he noticed the flash next to him. Though he looked quickly, all he saw was water. He turned back to continue on and saw the reflection in the water. It was the Well-Dressed Man in a fine suit, his hair slicked back, looking intently at Gin. He smiled wide, showing his gleaming teeth, before the water broke and the reflection was gone. Gin snapped out of it and paddled over to the others.